Grab the Rake! Gas Powered Leaf Blowers Being Banned in Parts of New York State
Clean up is getting a little harder in towns and villages across New York State but it'll be a little quieter. Gas powered leaf blowers are being banned.
Officials in the Village of Larchment, New York in Westchester County has passed the first ban on gas powered leaf blowers in the Northeast. It goes into effect January 1, 2022. Electric leaf blowers will also be limited to spring cleanup in April and October 15 to December 15 for fall clean-up.
19 New York towns, villages or cities have bans in place, but only during certain times of the year. Anyone using gas powered leaf blowers could be fined $100. But the ban could stretch to all of New York state.
There is a bill, sponsored by Senator John Liu, prohibiting the use of gas-powered leaf and lawn blowers between May 1 and September 30, for all of New York state.
The legislation is aimed to cut down on polluting the environment. "Gas-powered leaf blowers pollute the environment in 3 ways: exhaust emissions, noise, and particulates/dust blown into the air."
The bill says the amount of carbon monoxide emitted from a typical backpack leaf blower for just 1 hour is equal to CO coming from the tailpipe of a current year automobile operating for over 8 hours. "For the other pollutants, the amounts are even greater."
Leaf blowers push 300 to 700 cubic feet of air per minute at 150 to 280 MPH. The resulting dust can contain PM2.5 and PM10 particles including pollen and mold, animal feces, heavy metals, and chemicals from herbi- cides and pesticides. While more modern leaf blowers are available with ratings of 65 dB or lower at 50 feet, many that are on the market still exceed 70 dB at 50 ft. A leaf blower rated at 70 dB at 50 feet may generate noise levels over 105 dB at the operator's ears.
Senator Tony Avella has also introduced a similar bill to ban gas powered leaf and lawn blowers year round in the city of New York.
You can use leaf blowers in New York City but only on weekdays between 8AM and 7PM and on weekends and holidays between 9AM and 6PM.